The scheduling and ordering
of any vessel’s movements shall be the responsibility of each vessel’s agent or
master.

Agents must give a minimum 4-hour
notice.

AUTOMATICS

In the case of vessels
exchanging berths, an agent or master may direct that his vessel’s movements be
scheduled by the pilot office to occur automatically with the movement of the
other vessel vacating the berth.

Orders for “Automatic”
movements will not be
accepted in cases where the vessel vacating the berth involved does not utilize
the services of a Galveston-Texas City Pilot when moving from that berth.Although the Pilots’ communication system is
available and may be utilized to aid in scheduling a vessel’s movement in the
above situation, the final
responsibility for ordering the dispatch of a pilot must remain with the
vessel’s agent or master.

NAVIGATIONAL
SAFETY GUIDELINES

Nothing in these guidelines
obligates an individual pilot to move a vessel when, in that pilot’s opinion,
it is unsafe to do so.Safety is always
our number-one concern.

PILOT
BOARDING REQUIREMENTS

Please refer to 46 CFR
32.90.1 “Pilot Boarding Equipment” and 46 CFR 35.01-55 “Pilot Boarding
Operation”.These CFRs
speak to the requirements of having the proper pilot boarding equipment as well
as the requirements for conducting the pilot boarding operations in a safe
manner.

For safety reasons, Galveston-Texas
City Pilots require that pilot boarding of semi-submersible drilling rigs,
jack-up rigs and any other type of MODU, and self-propelled diving rigs such as
the Uncle John and the Q4000 be done by helicopter.

Tug with Barge:

Pilots will not transfer via the tug (when in the
notch).The potential risk involved
to

both pilot and pilot boat is not worth the little time
saved by boarding via the tug.A pilot

ladder rigged on the barge is required for all pilot
transfers.Barges without a rigged pilot

ladder will not be boarded.

LIMITATIONS
AND RESTRICTIONS

Galveston Bar to Ports of GalvestonCounty:

Vessels
over 120,000 DWT

Daylight hours only* for arrivals and sailings, but may be shifted or turned at
night within Galveston or Texas City

May sail
from Bolivar Roads at night

A second pilot is required

Vessels
with LOA of 860 feet or more

A second pilot is required

·(Certain Cruise
Vessels are exempt from this requirement)

3.Vessels
with Draft over 40 feet

·Daylight hours
only.

4.Dead ships may be moved at night within
Galveston and Texas City harbors only(not Bolivar
Roads or over the bar).Barges may be
moved at any time.

5.Dead ships or rigs with a draft of 30 feet
or more require moving safety zone.Customer to make all arrangements, including USCG
clearance.

The maximum length limit of any vessel handled in
the Texas City
main basin shall be 1,000 feet.

Ships, seagoing barges and other large vessels
are restricted from passing each other in the Texas City Channel or the CarbideCanal.

Vessel coming out of Houston
has priority over vessel leaving Texas
City at the same time.

BERTHS
WITH SPECIAL RULES & CURRENT RESTRICTIONS

PORT OF GALVESTON

Galveston Slips:

Our policy for putting ships
in and out of the slips in Galveston
is to dock and undock ships at slack tide, and in no case will we attempt these
maneuvers with more than a ½- knot current running in either direction.The wind must be 20 knots or less.

Ships bound for piers in the
west end of the port
of Galveston will be boarded
1½ hours before slack tide.Ships bound
for the Texas International Terminal dock will be boarded 2 hours before slack
tide.For all sailings, the pilot will
board the vessel 1/2 hour before slack tide.

If you have any questions
about the conditions in which your vessel will operate, please call our
dispatchers.

1.Maximum beam of
90 feet (106 feet if vessel has a working bow thruster)

2.No vessel
movement in or out of slips if the current is greater than 0.5 knots.Certain large offshore vessels with
sufficient thrusters, etc. may be exempted from this requirement.Please check with our dispatch office.Seismographic and other small vessels are
exempt.

Galveston Docks
West of Pier 35:

1.Flood tide

·For vessels over
600 feet, the combined tug horsepower should be at least 6,000 HP.

·For vessels over
700 feet, a minimum of two tugs and/or 9,000 HP shall be used.

2.Slack or ebb tide

·The number and
horsepower of tugs may be reduced by the pilot (USCG – COPT 7/9/91)

Texas International Terminal:

Slip info – 800 feet long, 150 feet
wide

Maximum LOA – 750 feet

Maximum Beam – 106 feet

Maximum Draft – depends on silt.Call T.I.T. (409 762-5400) for this info on each arrival.

No daylight restriction.This berth is restricted by the current.

Vessels must maintain 2 feet under-keel clearance.

Job times for ships 300 feet or longer will be set as
follows:

Inbound – 2 hours before
slack water

Sailing or Shift – 30 minutes before slack
water

Galveston Terminal:

Current of 0.5 knots or less for all mooring and
sailing.

Vessels 700 feet or longer must moor during
daylight hours,* in addition to
the current restriction.

Any vessel (including barges) docked at either TC
-19 or TC-20 precludes putting another ship in that slip (width is 187
feet). An “automatic” order may be
placed to follow the vessel in the slip.

Texas City #45:

Daylight hours only* for docking of vessels 700 feet and over

Undocking at night may be done provided the
vessel is docked portside

Texas City #66 & #67 (rules per Oil
Tanking):

700 feet (213 meter) maximum overall length

Vessels less than 175 feet (53 meters) between
forward and aft perpendiculars cannot berth at #66 or #67

Draft limits – Call Oil Tanking for current
drafts

(#66 - 409 948-5347;#67 - 409 641-4546)

All vessels will dock starboard side to #66 and
#67.Any exception must be approved
by Oil Tanking and Galveston-Texas City Pilots 24 hours prior to docking.

Assist tugs shall normally not be placed between
vessel and shore.If the safety of
the dock or vessel requires a tug to be placed in this position, the
UCC&P shift boat shall be advised (on VHF 16 or 18) to protect any
barges that might be affected by wheel wash.

Ocean-going barges will use the UCC&P shift
boat for docking or undocking

The harbor pilot or vessel master, when weather
or vessel congestion in the waterway require, will use additional tugs

Oil Tanking will retain the right to use
additional tugs for docking or undocking

Under no circumstance, other than emergency
situations, will any vessel dock or undock without tug(s) assistance

NOTE:The above guidelines and limitations are
based on normal traffic and weather conditions.Variances from these safety guidelines may be imposed at times by
Federal, State or local authorities because of weather, prevailing channel
conditions, or other reasons.

The foregoing safety
guidelines may be exceeded only if prior arrangements are made between the
vessel owner and/or agent and the Galveston-Texas City Pilots.

Vessels exceeding guidelines
listed above may be subject to various restrictions, including additional
pilots, daylight-only passage, or may be denied entry.

Any vessel without the
capacity to attain its posted RPMs in a timely
fashion will, at the discretion of the Galveston-Texas City Pilot, be
restricted to daylight transit and/or additional pilotage
or tug requirements.

It is recognized that, due to
a vessel’s draft and the hydrodynamics of the Galveston
and Texas City
ship channels, a vessel may not achieve the posted resultant speed for given RPMs.

*Movements restricted to “daylight hours only” must
commence at least two (2) hoursbefore sunset, and not before sunrise.

Disclaimer: The content of this website is for informational purposes only. When navigating
The content of this website is for informational purposes only. When navigating
a vessel upon within the Ports of Galveston and Texas City, the Galtex Pilots
recommend that the operator rely on the advice of the individually licensed
pilot on board the vessel. Galtex Pilots do not guarantee the accuracy of the
information in this website. Information received from third parties such as
weather, tides, current, channel depth, dock characteristics, harbor tug
characteristics, line handling, etc. should be verified by consulting the
appropriate entity such as the Port of Houston Authority, individual private
dock owners, the U.S. Coast Guard, N.O.A.A, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
and tug operators such as Bay-Houston Towing and Suderman & Young.